Archive for: February 2009

How much time everyday do children spend outside? How many minutes a day do children engage in real physical activity?  

Our children do not move enough or play enough.  Read the evidence

• A study published this month in the journal of Pediatrics studied the links between recess and classroom behavior among 11,000 children.  Children who had more than 15 minutes of recess a day had more positive behaviors.
• A Harvard study of middle school students reported in the Journal of School Health that the more physical fitness children have the better they do on academic tests.
• Dr. Stuart Brown author of “Play: How It Shapes the Brain” claims play is a major health issue.  During play children develop skills to solve social problems.  It is a fundamental biological process that creates resiliency and social life skills.
• Neuroscientists at Oxford University believe that repeated exposure to computer games, chat rooms, and social networks sites could leave a generation of children with poor attention spans.  In addition the lack of play and interaction interferes with developing critical communication skills.
• The Journal of Attention Disorders found that for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder improved on test scores by simply taking walks outside.
•  A study by the Broadcaster Audience Research board found teenagers now spend seven and a half hours a day in front of some kind of screen. 

This research shows the intimate connection between the body and the mind.  And that connection can be compromised when children lead out of balance lives.  Too much time devoted to the wrong things.   This information is critical yet in order for it to have any impact those in education must first start to believe it and then to make adjustments.

Scientists know the brain uses two forms of attention.  Directed attention that allows us to concentrate on work and involuntary attention that takes over when we are distracted.  Directed attention is a limited resource.  Long hours sitting whether it be in a classroom or in front of a computer screen create mental fatigue.   But spending time in a natural setting, outside appears to activate involuntary attention giving the brain time to rest.  

Unfortunately this information comes at a time when schools are making cuts to recess and physical education.  Thirty percent of public schools offer no recess at all to children and forty percent of schools surveyed are offering only one daily recess period.  And even more injurious are those teachers who punish students by taking away recess privileges.  You don’t punish children by taking away a math class.  It’s illogical to limit or take away the one activity that promotes greater brain activity and learning potential.

Physical activity is essential to education.  Teachers must work to guarantee that their students have access to being outside and being active even if they must  integrate it into their daily lesson plans themselves.

As we search for cost efficient ways to improve our schools lets not forget these simple rules. 

Virtue is an old fashioned word that seems out of place in our society today.  You don’t hear much about virtue.  But what’s truly needed to rescue us is a resurgence of the practice of being virtuous. 

Barry Schwartz author of “The Paradox of Choice,” writes about psychologists who interviewed hospital janitors around the country.  They asked them what their job entailed.  The job description of a hospital janitor is a long  list of maintenance and cleaning.  Nowhere in the list is a single word that mentions or involves another human being.  Yet during the interviews psychologists discovered that hospital janitors described situations that demanded they be wise. 

There was Mark who described how he stopped mopping the floor because a patient needed to get out of bed to exercise.  There was Charlene who ignored her supervisors and didn’t vacuum the visitors lounge because some family who had been there for 24 hours were taking a nap.  And then there was Luke who mopped the floor of a comatose young man’s room twice because the man’s father who had been keeping a vigil for six months didn’t see him do it the first time and was angry.

Behavior like this whether it comes from a janitor, nurse or a doctor doesn’t just make people feel better it actually improves the quality of patient care and enables hospitals to run well.  The janitors who behaved this way were interacting with people with kindness, care and empathy.

Aristotle said that practical wisdom is a combination of moral will and moral skill.  This group of janitors was practicing both.  

You don’t need to be brilliant to be wise, but without wisdom brilliance isn’t enough. The camera is always on when you are teaching.  As a teacher you are being observed even when you think you are not.  Unlike the janitor your job description demands the moral will and moral skill to be successful.

A wise person knows when and how to make the exception to every rule.  As the janitors knew when to ignore their duties in the service of another person, having wisdom means you know how to improvise. Real world problems are often ambiguous and ill defined.  The context is always changing.  A wise person knows how to use these moral skills in the pursuit of the right aims.

The context in your classroom is also always changing, student skills and needs shift and challenge what you believed was the norm.   So how can you bring practical wisdom into your day?

The most single important thing you can teach to your students is first to respect themselves, second to respect others and last to respect learning.

Your school community has an obligation to nurture the development of the moral will and moral skill of all its teachers.  It must recognize the even the wisest and most well meaning among you will give up if they have to swim against the current. 

A wise person is made and not born.  Wisdom depends on experience and not just any experience.  You need the time to know the people you are serving.  You need permission to improvise and to try new things and occasionally to fail.  And to learn from these failures.  Most important you need to be mentored by wise teachers.

Teachers must celebrate moral exemplars.  We are inspired by our moral heroes, acknowledge them and celebrate them  and strive to become an everyday moral hero yourself.  The future of education depends on an injection of this type of leadership.  

The story of the 13-year-old British boy who fathered a child sparked outrage in newspapers and on the Internet.   Many in the British government are in despair.  They feel that the country’s youth have lost their way, not knowing the difference between right and wrong.    Currently Britain has the highest teen pregnancy rate in Western Europe and a binge drinking culture that leaves teens splayed out in the streets. 

But they are not alone.  Today one in four American teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease.  And for the first time in fifteen years the Center for Disease Control reported that the rate of teen pregnancy has significantly increased. 

What happened?

Teens have always taken risks and behaved impulsively.  Scientists know that during adolescents the larger brain is developing.  Teens need time to learn about complex social behavior and often fail to see the consequences of their actions.  Sudden increases in nerve connectivity in the brain make it harder to read social situations and other people’s emotions.

 These explanations might help us adults accept some of the out of balance behavior and mistakes but they don’t give us the answers on how to better guide and teach our youth.

I think it’s important to not just look at the behavior the symptoms so to speak but also the cause.  Why the attachment and attraction to seeking out so much risky short term pleasures?  It seems we have not given our children a foundation of self-worth, we have not taught them to love themselves first.    

So how do children learn to love and respect themselves, to honor their bodies and enrich their minds?

I believe the answer is three fold.  First in order for children to love themselves they must first be loved.  Every decent society should build a support system for mothers and children.  No child should be deprived of the nurturing they deserve.   Second we must bring awareness to the taboo subjects in school.   Currently there is no dedicated funding in the US for a comprehensive sex education program.  And third we cannot abdicate responsibility.  Despite having adult bodies teens still have undeveloped emotions and decision-making skills, they need adequate supervision.  Parents and schools must ask: is it age appropriate and is it safe when planning activities for teens. There is strength in numbers. Parents can be their own support group by collectively deciding what’s appropriate and safe for their children.   For too long parents have taken the easier road for giving in, of not fighting the battle and succumbing to the demands of their children.

Schools can help by giving parents information on skills and providing the forum to bring them together.  We cannot afford to shift blame, to claim sensitivity, or to lecture on whose responsibility it is.  The task is for all of us to demand better.   And we demand with our actions.  Adults are the templates that our youth will follow.  Stand up and take the leadership role and others will be grateful they have someone to follow.  

If the only vision you had of yourself came from the social mirror your view would be like the reflection in a crazy mirror at a carnival.  The view would be distorted and out of proportion.   The social mirror is often a projection of the concerns and weaknesses of those giving the input rather than a true picture of what you are. 

Author Stephen Covey writes about a classic story of a self-fulfilling prophecy.   The story is how a computer error in England incorrectly programmed student’s grades and IQ’s.   The error was not discovered until five months into the school year.  What was discovered demonstrates how critical it is that children believe they are capable.  The scores of a lower achieving group of students had all gone up.  Their teachers had treated them as thought they were bright.  The teacher’s energy, hope and optimism reflected high individual expectations for each of these students. 

The teachers reported that during the first few weeks of school when they saw the usual methods of teaching were not successful they changed them.  They believed that their students were bright and when things were not working well they figured it must be the teaching methods.  For this group of teachers apparent learner disability was nothing more than teacher inflexibility. 

Small interventions can make a big difference in learning.  Geoffrey Cohen a psychologist at the University of Colorado has found that telling students that their intelligence is under their own control improves their effort and performance.  If students believe they possess the ability to work hard and make themselves smarter they will be smarter. 

As schools and government examine how to increase academic achievement and where to spend their dollars they must not ignore the most critical component in learning -the attitude of the classroom teacher.   They must keep in mind that small influences in children’s lives can have very big effects.   Ambitious reforms are still important but children who have successful learning pictures in their heads will be better equipped mentally to try, and to succeed.

Failure to achieve is intimately connected to a child’ self-image and ideas on self worth.  To change this paradigm you must as a teacher believe that although a child may have failed in the past he can succeed in the present.  A failing child will continue to fail if his teachers continue to remind him of his failure.  To break the cycle of failure the student must first have a caring nurturing relationship with his teacher. 

When you as a teacher refuse to label your students you will see them in fresh new ways.  Your view can help them become independent, fulfilled and capable of doing satisfying work. 

Goethe taught, “ Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can be and should be and he will become as he can and should be.”

Anyone involved in education should become excited at the prospect of injecting this kind of positive energy into a system that many regard as broken.   Administrators, parents and teachers must dedicate themselves to providing a network of support and renewal for all teachers.  Their job is too important not to do this. 

Have you ever been so rushed to get someplace that you didn’t have enough time to stop and get gas?   It’s ironic that the most necessary thing could be the very thing you neglected. 

Many of us rush through the day neglecting ourselves the same way we neglect our gas tanks.  When you consider the consequences that come from little things it’s easy to see there are no little things. 

As teachers you are caregivers and nurturers but who nurtures you? 

The answer is you.  You have to make a dedicated plan to take care of yourself first.  Just like the emergency instructions on every air flight to fit the oxygen mask over your own face first in life you must also make sure your breathe first. 

There are four dimensions of renewal that should become part of your day.  The first is the physical.  Caring effectively for your physical body you need to eat well, get sufficient rest, and regular exercise.  Making excuses about building wellness only ensures that at a critical time you will run out of gas. 

The second dimension is the mental.  When you become a life long learner you enhance and enrich your own teaching abilities.  Stimulating the mind by learning new things will make you more alert and responsive.  By challenging the mind you will discover that you are able to solve problems with less stress.

The third dimension is the spiritual.  The spiritual invites meaning and purpose into your life.  It also reinforces your commitment to your own mission and values.  Paying attention to the spiritual means connecting to what inspires you, nature, music, art, literature, all help you cultivate a richer life.

The fourth dimension is the social and emotional renewal.  It means keeping and improving your relationships.  Honoring your relationships means you keep them in constant repair.  You attend to the courtesies, listen for understanding, keep commitments and sincerely apologize when you make a mistake. 

Renewal is a lifetime journey with a million little steps.  When you practice this you maintain and improve the things that will help you accomplish your work and other desires.   Your mind, body and spirit will help you realize your goals.  A happy and healthy life is the result of taking care of you first.